


Noise

by oggmonster



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I just want them to be happy, Platonic Cuddling, idk if it's romantic or not, it's just cute okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 06:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10893219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oggmonster/pseuds/oggmonster
Summary: She'd slipped into his room during thunderstorms so many years ago. It was time to go again.Takes place sometime between Phases 3 and 4Good vibes all around, 2Nu only if you want it to be.





	Noise

Noodle adored noise. Not just music, absolutely anything. She loved how even the most casual noises painted a room. How different sounds and voices could capture and tell stories. The worst thing to ever hear, she had concluded, was boring old silence.

But as she lay awake in the London flat into the early morning, she had begun to doubt herself. For what seemed like hours now, she had been unable to unfocus from the cacophony of the spring downpour and crackles of thunder coming from outside, matched by the dramatic sighs and whimpers coming from the floor above her. At this rate, she much rather hear nothing. Another thunderclap, another round of whimpers. It was exhausting.

She opened an eye to peer at her phone. Quarter past three. This was ridiculous.  
Noodle stood up, rubbed her palms against her eyes and hobbled up the stairs. 

2D’s door was unlocked. She found him sitting up, drenched in sweat, staring at the door, looking particularly pale in the light of the phone in his hand. He didn’t seem surprised to see her. 

"Thought I heard foot steps … three in the morning already. Wouldncha … sorry … did I wake you?”

Noodle rolled her eyes and leaned against the door frame.

“It's just the rain, ya know? Makes me think I'm still out there somewhere, and the walls’l break and we’ll get flooded in, and I’ll be digested and …” 

2D’s voice dried up. He rolled onto his back and stared blankly at the ceiling fan. Noodle shrugged, and sat down on the bed. 

No reaction.  
She lay down.  
Same blank stare.

"Well … it's over, you know," she reasoned, her voice barely above a whisper. “We’re behind that now. We have a flat.”

No response. Noodle hated silence. 

She continued. "Well, until we somehow burn this place down too. But I think we have a few more days?”

He grinned and turned onto his side to face her. Noodle laughed back, examining the crow's feet forming around his eyes. How amusing it was that even eyes like his could laugh.

A lock of hair fell from behind his ear and onto his face, and Noodle instinctively extended her hand to tuck it back. 

2D flinched, moving to hide his face behind his elbow. The smile faded.

They were silent again. Worse this time. The light on his phone screen dimmed, plunging the room into darkness. 

"Sorry. Can't help it," he mumbled, suddenly keen to avoid eye contact. "Really, I am, I can't ..."

His voice trailed off into more deep breaths. Sporadic. Hoarse. Noodle figured it was the most miserable thing she had ever heard. 

" ... you know, " she tried to shut him up, "I always wished I would grow up taller than you."

"Why?"

"Turn around." 

He peeked at her from behind his elbow, straining to see her in the dark. 

"Why?"

"Because I've always wanted to try something. Please?"

"Well a'right then, since you're so keen about it," 2D mumbled, turning onto his side away from her.

More silence from him. No breaths. The rain outside picked up. 

Noodle slowly reached out a hand and cautiously placed it on 2D's shoulder. No shudders. Much better. She scooted herself closer and let her hand trace down his arm, resting the palm of her hand against his. 

Her other hand clumsily reached for his face, blindly trying to smooth away the stubborn lock of hair. 

She felt her outstretched arms ache, her body still a full foot away from the frontman. Now certainly, this wasn't the most comfortable position. Noodle grumbled to herself, wishing she had thought it through. It seemed painfully obvious she hadn't done this before. Absent mindedly, she let her hand run down his face until a finger slipped into a nostril.

Noodle felt her arms shake as 2D chuckled under her. "Noods, what are you doing - ?"

She rolled her eyes, thankful he couldn't see her. The fingers on her left hand tightened around his. 

"Oh, oh I think I've got it. Hold on," 2D mumbled, squirming to fill in the distance between them and bringing his knees to his chest. "That better?"

Ah. He had _definitely_ done this before. She rearranged herself, propping her head up with one arm and extending the other over his chest, wrapping it it around his ribcage. 

"You were scared of thunder too, weren't you? A few years back. You'd come into my room sometime, you'd want me to hold y'hand or you couldn’t go to sleep. ‘Member that?"

She couldn't help but chuckle, tucking his head under her chin. Even with him all curled up, her toes still barely reached his knees. "I wasn't ever scared of anything. Now, you sleep."

She pulled him closer, burying her nose into the nest of blue hair. He still smelled like sea water, but also vaguely of vanilla. She made a mental note to remember it. 

More silence. More comfortable this time.

A few minutes passed. She heard him breathing again, felt his body loosen under hers. The breaths were more gentle this time, more steady. Just the way they should be.

It was true that thunder had never scared her. Or rain, or whales. Even pirates. Noodle had lied though, she did often feel scared. 2D felt so real next to her, so solid as his chest rose and fell under her hand. 

But he hadn't always felt that way in the years she'd known him. Not when she caught him rubbing at the bruises on his wrists and neck that never seemed to heal. Not when she had clung onto his shaking hands as he absentmindedly muttered something about needing more pills. And when all those years ago she'd curled up in his bed, having whimpered something or other about the thunder, Noodle had pressed her ear to his chest to find an ever-faint heartbeat. Some nights he had seemed so cold, so slow and vacant and far away. It was unsettling to find a person so warm and tall to be so empty. She had clung to him, desperate to remind herself he was still there. She'd never understood any of it. It horrified her.

But it didn't matter. She was older now. And he was right there. She would never lose him again. The thunder outside had seemed to pass, the remaining rain turning to a distant patter. They were nearing silence again.

How nice it was to hear him breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> Written at 3 AM. Because if I can't sleep, the characters can't either, dammit!  
> I just want my babies to be happy
> 
> First fic I've ever posted, what's good? <3


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